Ship-Building
There are a few key ideas you have to watch out for when you build your ship. Stats Percentage When constructing or editing a ship, you may notice an icon in the top-left corner with a percentage written on it. This indicator designates how big you can make your ship. This is the biggest limitation laid on the size of your ship. This number can be reduced by using fewer parts, such as large hull blocks/large armoured hull blocks; or making hollow structures. Weapons also account for a minor amount of this number, but you should not exceed 80 to 90% before adding weapons. Speed Speed can be increased by adding more boilers to your ship. Better-and larger-boilers have more horsepower(see the boilers page). Speed is affected by weight, water resistance, and number of boilers. A more streamlined ship will move faster than a blocky ship. As of such, 1/2, 5/6, and 1/6 blocks are used often to ensure a more streamlined ship. Another way to increase speed is to create channels for the water moving from the propellors to the stern of the vessel to force more water out faster by compression (similar to a jet engine). The best way to up a ship's speed is to build a good design. Of course, such designs are difficult to make, and whenever you make a change to your ship, make sure to check the info to see the speed. A good ship should be above 50 knots of speed. Any less will be too slow. The faster the better, as it becomes easier to avoid enemy shots. But really, the best speeds are above 70 knots. Due to those pesky aircraft, any slower than 70 knots and you'll be a sitting duck for the bombers. Strength This tells you how much damage you can inflict on the enemy. The higher the number, the better. This adds up the strength of all your weapons. Generally, a larger ship should have above 1500 strength. The Yamato, by comparison, has over 2300 strength. For the largest ships, 46cm guns are greatly recommended to push up that strength number. With about 4 46cm cannons, and large amounts of smaller cannons, it's possible to reach over 3000. Of course, if you simply build a platform, you can put massive amounts of guns on. The trick is to balance weaponry with speed, as weapons are heavy. But if well designed, a ship can be both very fast AND very strong. Unfortunately, the large weapons take up a lot of space. Toughness/Armor Both of these contribute to how long your ship can survive. Toughness is essentially the amount of damage a ship/ship part can take before it is destroyed. The higher toughness level is shown in your info chart, the more damage your ship needs to take before the health bar decreases. (For example, a ship with 0 toughness might take a 50% health bar decrease from a shot, and if that ship had a higher toughness, they might only take 25% hp damage from the same shot.) Armor is how much damage is subtracted from each hit. Obviously, the higher the armor number the less damage enemies can inflict. Both of these are increased primarily by adding armor blocks. Those come in 200mm, 400mm, and 600mm types, with each type having a small variety of shapes and sizes. A good armor level should be pretty high, above 300 for a typical ship. But if possible, get that number even higher. Most large ships need a least 750 armor to be competitive in multiplayer. Find a balance between armor and speed. A good toughness would be at lest 2500 for big ships. Stability/Angle Keep track of this at all times when expanding your ship. A number above 65 stability and 0 degrees angle is recommended. Stability is how stable your ship is in the water. Keep this number as high as possible, since it ensures the survivability of your ship. The higher the stability number, the more of your hp bar must be taken away for your ship to capsize. As you've probably noticed, some ships sink before reaching 0% hp. This is because of low stability. The higher the stability, the less likely it is to sink before reaching a low hp. Therefore, a high stability is recommended for you to be able to survive longer, and thus have a better chance of winning. Stability also keeps your ship flat. When your ship is damaged, it often tilts. Higher stability reduces the tilting, and thus keeps your guns above water longer. Angle is the angle of the ship when it's not moving. If this number is anything but 0 degrees, your ship will be more likely to capsize. It's not that difficult to keep the angle 0 degrees, but make sure it is before exiting the dock. Note: tapping a word on the ship's stats screen show information on what that word is (e.g. if you tap Angle a message appears stating that the angle is the degree of the ships after it had sailed forward) Types As of version 1.5, there are 3 main types of ships. There are also a few other less common types of ships. Depending on your play style, you can choose which one you want to build. Standard Battleship These are the default ship types, the ones most versatile and most often seen. Most players prefer to use these since these are the easiest to control, and are also the cheapest to build and add onto. They are also usually the fastest, most armored, and most powerful ships. However, when faced with the other 2 types of ships, this type finds itself forced to equip all sorts of extra weaponry to counter them. Recommended for all types of players. There is no trick, except to keep moving. Submarine/Any Underwater Ship Rather expensive due to the need for underwater torpedo tubes (70,000 resources each), these ships go underwater by accelerating, and get above water by stopping or decelerating. Not as fast as battleships, but the fact that these are underwater make almost all weapons incapable of hitting them. The torpedoes on submarine, Poop is fun to eat s are also deadly, with the powerful aspect of being able to severely damage or cripple most ships with a few shots. Great for those who prefer to stay hidden, but note that for an effective submarine, the cost is generally much higher than a normal battleship. The trick is to stay underwater, and to color your ship a color that is not easily spotted. When aiming for the enemy, aim at the largest part of the ship (usually the side of it). Stay hidden. It is recommended that the recon plane is utilized because sight is limited when underwater. The recon plane doesn't need a runway and still add 10km sight even when it's underwater. Poop is fun to eat Carrier/Anything that concentrates on holding planes Even more expensive than the other two, the carrier is typically very slow. It can be made much faster, though. Generally, carriers sacrifice armor for speed. See Aircraft for a much better description of the carrier, and how to use one. Note that these are extremely expensive due to 50,000 resources a plane, and runways are 40,000 resources each. The large, flat shape of a carrier also presents a large target board for enemies. But if used correctly, can destr oy most ships. Great for people who have a whole lot of money, and would like to sit back and watch as their enemies get swarmed. The trick is to back away from the enemy at all times, and keep launching planes. Speedboats+Rammers These are pretty cheap. They are usually small to medium size (in order to dodge enemy shots). While you can build your speedboat anyway you want, my favorite is a double hulled Mikasa. (Buy Mikasa, strip the deck down to a flat surface, and build a SECOND, IDENTICAL hull next to it, connecting with 600mm LightWeight). Put 4 Angled boilers on each (or 5 Gas Turbines). The trick is to put Heavy Ballasts and anchors (found in decorations) onto the front of the modified Mikasa, or whatever ship you're using. This way, you push the enemy down when you hit them. Make sure the front of your ship is elevated (when moving, the front should be just a bit above the water) to ensure that your ship comes out on top. Possibly equip mines/depth charges if you think you're skilled enough to use them. That, or you can put some guns on the front of your speedboat and go in circles around the enemy, shooting at them until they are destroyed. Hybrids There are ships that can be a combination of 2 or 3 of the above types. Battleship+Carrier: This is the most common type of hybrid. It consists of a somewhat weaker battleship with a small group of planes. While this offers versatility, it is not a particularly good choice. "Jack of all trades, but master of none." If you really want a top-notch ship, you'd be better off sticking with a purely single type of ship (one of the above types). But if you want to be a battleship/carrier ship, then here's a few ideas to use. This ship is the most expensive. It is somewhat faster than simply a carrier, due to battleship traits. The main way to do this is to A) build a battleship, and put a runway next to it, or B) build a carrier, then build a deck on TOP of the existing deck. I prefer B, which is frankly a much better option,to some but to others the option C which is a fully equips battle ship with a run way modified to the aft which proves more affective. When using this ship, first launch all your planes, then head in to shoot. However, to maintain a good carrier trait, always stay at least 8 km away from the enemy to minimize damage. The guns are usually only back-up in this type of hybrid ship. In the case that the airplanes are the back-up, then head into battle like you would with a normal battleship, obviously sending your plane off first. There is also a carrier which you can extend the deck from the front and add guns in the front. It should be like the British carrier HMS invincible, only they put a missile launcher instead of guns and the carrier deck is angled upwards. Battleship+Submarine Least common, and least useful. Is expensive, and difficult to use. Basically, its a submarine with the very top of it covered in guns. Honestly, this class is useless, and I don't have much to say about it. If you DO want to use this, just read the Submarine tips, adjusting for the guns on top by surfacing every so often to shoot. It's extremely hard to maneouvre and keeping it underwater to be classified as a submarine, because a battleship's weapons are extremely heavy. A good recommendation is the Mark 45 5 inch gun or Vertical Launch System Tomahawk cruise missiles, because the VLS can be launched underwater and possesses a long range like that of an ICBM. The Mark 45 is lightweight and packs a good punch in a small space, so a recommended tactic is to shoot the enemy again and again right when the battle starts and when the enemy is crippled approach it and sink it with torpedoes. Carrier+Submarine: While the most expensive type of hybrid, I love to use this. It's awesome to imagine the opponents' reactions when I emerge from the water, launching planes off. Basically, hollow out parts of an extremely large submarine. Put a runway and planes into that spot. In the beginning, launch all your planes, then go back to being a normal submarine. Battleship+Submarine+Carrier: If you can build this, you are ridiculously rich and can spend huge amounts of time building a ship. But were you to happen to have this ship, I assume you're strong enough to figure how to play on your own. But if you want to review some ideas, here they are. Most of the time, act like a submarine. Launch your planes in the pattern shown in the Carrier+Submarine hybrid type. Then get up close and shoot torpedoes, then surface and start shooting with your guns. This type is very rare. And although in theory they are almost unbeatable, building one is quite honestly a waste of time. Flying ships Almost impossible. To make a continuously flying/floating ship the weight of your ship has to be lighter than air which is nearly impossible. A ship could be classed as 'floating' if no solid objects or decorations (propellers are basically the only object allowed to touch water) are in contact with water for a prolonged amount of time. One of the few known continuously floating vessel known to exist is the one displayed to the right. One way to make a (nearly) flying ship is to make a square slab of hull (make it pretty big do to the amount of weight you'll have to carry), then add at least four powerful boilers around the middle and cover the bottom with propellers. In the middle of the square platform, place a tower of 1x1x20, then create a small platform made of lightweight armored plates. Finally, place some guns on it, but make sure it is well balanced. When testing, immediately engage the throttle to maximum power. Category:Shiptype Category:Guide